The Computational Materials Repository

3.5 Outlook 773.5 OutlookThere are many ideas how to make CMR better in terms of increased performance,better user interfaces and improved usability. In this section the ones with thesupposedly greatest effect will be shown and elaborated.3.5.1 Improvements of upload and validationThe upload process (3.3.4.2) and validation (3.3.4.3) can be improved in severalways. During the validation and the uploading of the db-files, a log is kept aboutthe performed actions. This log could be extended to store as well the associatedfile owner. As a consequence it would be possible to identify the account fromwhich malicious or fake db-files were submitted. Another improvement that goesinto the same direction is to create a process that notifies users about changesand problems during the upload process. To improve validation time of thedb-file the current process could be enhanced to allow parallel validation. (Technicaldetail: it needs a separate process, Python 2.4 threads are not good enough.)3.5.2 Improvements of the PHP/HTML user interfaceThe web interface lacks ways to directly update the data. Often it is desired toadd/remove a keyword or put a description. Currently the user needs to use theprovided PUI script that downloads the data, then it is modified and uploadedagain. A desired solution would be to enhance the PHP/HTML user interface topermit to change keywords and custom fields directly. Another desired feature isuser authentication. This would enable control of who has access to the database.Depending on how it is implemented it would also allow to restrict the accessibledata. The last nice improvement would be, to create a custom user interfacemore easily, so that the user can adapt the view to his needs.3.5.3 A submission toolThe public database does not allow direct data upload, and this is good dueto security reasons. Nevertheless there should be a way that allows people tosubmit their data when they finished a paper. At CAMd we upload the data tothe local database first. When the paper is published the data is retrieved andcopied to the public database.External users have however no access to the internal database. Alternativesolutions are: (1) add the upload capability to the PHP/HTML interface, (2)set up an ftp server (this is a special server allows to upload/download files) andgive access on request (3) implement a custom tool.The simplest method is to use a ftp server because it allows to handle filesefficiently. The customization of the PHP/HTML interface or a fully customizedtools are nice to have but they are not really necessary.